Those engineers now talk about a concept called ‘dynamic hypercomfort’ – a new, ideal blend of ride fluency, outright grip and handling response that only a French premium-branded car can provide, apparently.

The overly firm and reactive ride of the original car has been replaced, at least in the case of the Crossback, by greater suppleness and compliance.

Moreover, the use of softer, longer springs and more pragmatic anti-roll bars actually produces outright grip and balance for the 4’s handling, as well as greater progressiveness as that grip ebbs away, and costs the car nothing significant at all on body control.

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The fitment of an electro-hydraulic power steering system, where almost all other PSA PeugeotCitroën models now use fully electromechanical equivalents, is an empty gesture, though, because at no point does the 4 steer convincingly well.

The variable-assistance rack is cloyingly, unhelpfully heavy at low speed (when feedback is all but useless) and light and uncommunicative at higher speed – with more than a hint of torsional column flex apparent in its initial response.

The woolly vagueness of that steering doesn’t prevent you from engaging with the 4 entirely, though. The car turns in with reasonable keenness, develops moderate grip as it rolls gently onto its outside contact patches, maintains decent balance as it goes and keeps enough suspension travel in reserve at all times to deal adequately well with mid-corner bumps. Most of that was beyond the ken of the pre-facelift 4.

The car’s ride is by no means brilliant. Sharper ridges and big intrusions thump through more harshly than they would in, say, a Nissan Qashqai or a Skoda Yeti. But it deals with average A-road and B-road intrusions almost as well as anything in the class.

It’s a bit of a shame, because the car’s new chassis tune actually deserves a fully switchable system. Its balance and poise survive duress quite well, and the car remains pleasingly controllable right up to the edge of adhesion — albeit only until the ESC detects that you may be beginning to enjoy yourself.

The body’s rate of roll is well controlled and its steering, although light, is consistent and precise enough to allow you to guide the car smoothly at high effort levels.

Dive is also fairly well checked under hard braking, although a spongy brake pedal doesn’t always help you to threshold-brake, rather than bothering the ABS unduly.